Scottsdale Real Estate Blog - Real Estate

Using Your IRA or 401(k) for a Down Payment

Sometimes it seems like there is just no way you'll ever be able to afford to purchase your first property in  Scottsdale, Carefree, Cave Creek, Fountain Hills, Paradise Valley, or another Phoenix area. As prices increase, the dream of homeownership drifts farther away.

There are many different rules and ways of obtaining financing and/or funds. Here are two you might want to consider.  Please consider the date of this post and double-check with your IRA or 401K provider to make sure what the current rules are.

1. If you are a first-time home buyer you are allowed to withdraw up to $10,000 from your IRA without penalty. You will be taxed on the withdrawal, unless you have a Roth IRA, as you were already taxed on those contributions.

2. You'll…

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Scottsdale Real Estate Buying Trend

Over the past week or two, there has been an influx of activity with my listings and I've had 5 or 6 contracts presented in this short time period. I have noticed a real estate trend that I haven't seen in a long time. Some Scottsdale home buyers are coming in with very low offers.

I believe the lowest I received was $30,000 or more under the list price on a Scottsdale home for sale. Of course, my seller was upset and let me know that he'll hold onto the home and wait for a better offer rather than sell it at such a lowball price.  In fact, not one of these lowball buyers has been successful in getting their offers accepted.

No matter if it's a Buyer's Market or Seller's Market, there will always be potential buyers that will make lowball…

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More Scottsdale Home Buyers Search the Internet First

UPDATE: Please note this post date - check out that computer in the picture. The figure stated below keeps rising, it is now way above 90%. Print advertising has all but died out. Many brokerages have completely cut out all print advertising.

According to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), Internet usage has risen among Scottsdale home buyers. In 1995, only about 2 percent of home buyers surfed the Internet. Today that figure has risen to 77%, up 3% from 2004 (see UPDATE above).

This is the reason I use multiple social media sites and invest time and money into my Scottsdale area website. These attract buyers to my site so they can see all of the Scottsdale real estate and surrounding towns (Cave Creek, Carefree, North Phoenix, Fountain…

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Don't Make These Scottsdale Home Buyer Mistakes

This is an older post that I've updated.  I received a real estate association e-mail newsletter with an interesting list from an Illinois real estate agent, Mark Nash. I'd like to quote his Top Buyer Mistakes and give my opinion after each one:

1. Bought properties to flip at top-of-market prices

I still can't figure out why buyers do this. Maybe if a buyer timed the purchase around the flipping of a Scottsdale home for sale at the beginning of a seller's market, they might have seen a substantial profit. In our local market, things are slowing and I've already seen homes purchased and quickly put back on the market at a higher price (after some renovating) sitting and not selling.

UPDATE: We are still seeing flips but I do see a lot of…

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Scottsdale Condo Sales Remain Strong

I read an interesting article in an e-mail I received from one of my many real estate magazines. Sales of single-family Scottsdale homes dropped off 2.9% compared to October of 2004. However, the Scottsdale condo market has remained strong. Condo sales were up 10.2% from October 2004.

I don’t remember Scottsdale condo sales outpacing single-family homes. I certainly could have missed some past statistics but this surprised me. I guess with the huge price increases we’ve seen in the past 2 to 3 years, many first-time buyers are simply being priced out of single-family homes. Or, maybe it’s that baby boomers are downsizing. Could be a bit of both.

The median home price for Scottsdale real estate in October went from $184,000 in ’04 to $209,900 this…

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